Strong Women Usually Have a Weakness #3
Ing-ing, come here. Play with me.
Seo Gaeul called out to the slime, unable to overcome her boredom and tedium. Ing-ing, who had been clinging to the ceiling and drifting around like a cloud, barely paid her words any attention.
“Really, nothing in this place goes the way I want.”
Seo Gaeul had already spent quite a long time in this basement. She had pushed school, human relationships, and even the company’s position to the back burner, spending her time gazing into her own inner self or simply chatting with her ‘kidnapper.’
“What if the information I finally gave him was completely off the mark about Yu Yeoleum’s weakness? It’s the kind of thing I can only confirm by visiting the orphanage myself.”
Plop.
Seo Gaeul collapsed onto the dirty, filthy mattress. There was nothing in this underground room. No fake students bragging about useless wealth, no need to perform awkward family theater. Here, Seo Gaeul could exist as nothing but herself. And that felt incredibly comfortable—like the shackles binding her hands and feet and the heavy yoke around her neck had finally been removed.
Though in reality the shackles really are still on my hands and feet right now.
Clank.
Seo Gaeul stared at the iron chains restraining her body. She had no idea what they were made of, but they were absurdly sturdy.
“If it weren’t for these, I would have escaped immediately.”
━Kyu-ing.
“What? What do you want?”
Floating gently.
The mysterious cloud-like Ing-ing drifted down and nestled into Seo Gaeul’s arms. As she felt its fluffy, refreshingly cool texture, the face of the kidnapper who had brought the slime here suddenly floated into her mind.
“I wish he’d come a little earlier today. I’m already hungry. And I’m starting to want a bath.”
Seo Gaeul was unbearably bored in this place. The only real enjoyment she had was the news of the outside world that the kidnapper male student delivered to her.
But as those thoughts kept chaining together, a sudden wave of irritation surged up.
“Why should I even be thinking about that bastard? Who does he think he is?”
Seo Gaeul hated the kidnapper male student. At the same time, an equal amount of curiosity bloomed. It was inevitable—for the kidnapped Seo Gaeul, the kidnapper had become her entire daily life.
I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination, but I get the feeling that this isn’t the first time that guy and I met at Youngsa High. Ha Namjin. It sounds like I’ve heard it somewhere before…
Come to think of it, the male student knew far too much about her. From the fact that she was vulnerable to the full moon, to the secret that she could transfer her abilities to others. Things she had never told a single soul.
He claimed to have realized it through the Emotion concept, but in Seo Gaeul’s opinion, Emotion couldn’t possibly be that powerful.
She admitted that she knew absolutely nothing about the male student. He chattered thoughtlessly about all sorts of things, but when she carefully reflected on it, he had never once spoken about himself.
He laughed frivolously and acted on sudden impulses, yet his eyes often weren’t smiling at all.
“That bastard—what you see on the surface isn’t everything. It means he didn’t just lose his mind and kidnap me on a whim. There’s something more. Something I don’t know about—”
The only thing Seo Gaeul knew for certain about him was that he was an orphan who had lost his parents in an incident two years ago. The N Mart fire that happened two years back.
Recalling that event, Seo Gaeul suddenly felt a chill run through her, as if her blood had frozen solid. It was from that moment that her life had begun accelerating beyond the point of no return.
But she stopped herself from thinking any further about the vanished Orphanage or the N Mart Fire.
Everyone had memories stuck in them like thorns. Everyone had weaknesses.
Steaming dishes were laid out across the table. What caught my eye most of all was the pure white samgyetang.
“Don’t hold back—eat as much as you want.”
At the elegant lady’s words, her hair neatly pinned up, I didn’t hesitate. I reached out, tore the chicken apart with my hands, and dug in. The thick slices of ginseng and jujube made it look beautiful and taste even better. Now this was proper body nourishment!
“…….”
The lady who had told me not to hold back seemed slightly flustered; the corners of her mouth trembled. She placed a hand over her chest as if trying to calm her startled heart, and the gems on every ring she wore were impressively large.
“So… you’re Yeoleum’s boyfriend?”
Her voice was cautious. When an adult asks a question, answering honestly is only polite.
“Mmphgruh.”
“Swallow what’s in your mouth first.”
“Eh—”
Munch, munch.
I was still chewing on the tender yet chewy chicken leg when the man who had been glaring at me from across the table the entire time answered in my place, his tone polite.
“Mother, he’s not her boyfriend. Just a school friend. A regular friend. Nothing more.”
“Taeyang, I was asking the student here. And how old are you that you’re still calling me ‘mom’? Please address me as Mother.”
“…….”
The man called Taeyang immediately shut his mouth, completely overpowered by the middle-aged woman he had just called mom.
From that exchange, I had the family hierarchy completely figured out. It felt like it had been burned into my brain.
Yu Taeyang. This man was Yu Yeoleum’s older brother. Twenty-seven years old. Clearly low on the family totem pole. And the middle-aged woman was Yu Yeoleum’s adoptive mother—the wife of opposition party leader Yu Dogwan. Her aura could only be described as that of a queen. If the haughty Seo Gaeul kept her attitude and aged, wouldn’t she end up exactly like this?
“Taeyang, shouldn’t you be heading home soon? How can someone who’s about to become a father leave his new wife alone for so long? Thank you for helping with the luggage today.”
“It’s fine, Mother. I already told Gureum I’d be home late. Shouldn’t we be sending this male student home instead? The sun has already set. Shall I drive him after he finishes eating?”
Zap.
Yu Taeyang stared at me with an openly hostile gaze. Did the way I was happily devouring the samgyetang bother him that much?
Whether it did or not, the lady spoke.
“This is the first time our Yeoleum has ever brought a friend home, so we were a bit flustered too. Namjin, was it? Please understand if our hospitality seems lacking. So, what kind of student are you, Namjin?”
Was this what it felt like to be personally interviewed by a queen? Even though she wasn’t an Awakened, an intense aura seemed to radiate from her.
She was asking what kind of person I was.
“As you can see, I’m a man among men.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Even with my honest answer, the queen’s eyes didn’t change at all. They were as solid as an old tree, or as deep as a quiet lake shrouded in mist.
Suddenly, I remembered the Little Prince I had read long ago. Adults only like numbers.
If I introduced myself by saying, “I live in a house built of rose-colored bricks, with dandelions on the windows, pigeons on the roof, and Seo Gaeul in the basement—” adults wouldn’t understand who I was or what kind of house I lived in. But the moment I said, “Our house is worth two billion won,” they would exclaim, “Wow! What a magnificent house!” and finish their evaluation of me.
Since it had come to this, maybe I should brag about money a little.
“Actually, I own two hundred bottle caps.”
“Bottle caps? Did you just say bottle caps?”
At that moment, Yu Yeoleum—who hadn’t touched any of the food on the table—let out a sudden “Pfft!” of laughter.
Both Yu Taeyang, who had been glaring at me, and the queen flinched as if greatly shocked.
“Yeoleum, you…”
“Did you just laugh?”
Was someone laughing really that surprising? When a woman sees my manly appearance, she can’t help but smile.
“…….”
The queen stared at the laughing Yu Yeoleum with wide, astonished eyes, then soon snorted “Hmph” herself. She stood up, turned her back to me, and spoke.
“It’s gotten late, so I’ll take my leave first. Student Namjin, next time you visit, please contact us in advance. So that strange ‘misunderstandings’ like today don’t occur again.”
“Mom! What do you mean ‘next time’! This guy—he’s clearly after Yeoleum—!”
“Yu Taeyang, drive Student Namjin home. The night roads are dangerous.”
That was how I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and left Yu Yeoleum’s house.
Yu Yeoleum came down to the parking lot and waved at me as I climbed into the car.
“Jin, get home safe.”
Shoooong—.
When I tried to raise my hand out the window to wave back, Yu Taeyang rolled the window up from the driver’s seat. With a low growl like a hungry lion, the luxury sedan pulled out of the parking lot. Yu Taeyang spoke first.
“Sorry about earlier. I misunderstood. I thought you were some kind of thief.”
He was referring to the moment he had charged at me and I kicked him in the groin. He had stopped by the house to help with the queen’s luggage and, upon seeing the situation between me and Yeoleum, had jumped to some ‘misunderstanding.’
“Still, I don’t like you. You lack the refinement to be Yeoleum’s boyfriend. I’m telling you honestly so you don’t get any dirty ideas, so listen well.”
Yu Taeyang seemed like a man without a single shadow, just like his name suggested. It was rare to find someone who could speak their mind so honestly. He had clearly said he disliked me, but as a fellow man, I found myself liking him.
“Hyung-nim, is the baby coming soon?”
“That’s right. I’m becoming a father. The head of a household. I think I’m finally starting to understand what family means and what it means to take responsibility for one.”
“…….”
“That’s why men and women should meet with that kind of responsibility in mind. Not out of momentary curiosity. Understand? Don’t do anything you can’t take responsibility for.”
“Hyung-nim, don’t worry. I already have a girl I like. I’ve sworn to give my life for her. I’m ready to burn my very soul for her. So even if Yeoleum came at me naked with good intentions, I would politely refuse.”
Screeech!
The brakes slammed suddenly.
“What? You bastard—what exactly is our Yeoleum lacking that you’d refuse her! You swear your life to another woman even though Yeoleum is right there? You rotten piece of trash!”
He had been telling me to stay away from her, but the moment I said I would, he got angry. He was more capricious than I expected, but I could tell he was trying to act like a proper big brother to Yu Yeoleum. And he was doing it with incredible passion. I could feel both duty and affection in his words.
It was the same feeling I had gotten from the ‘queen’ earlier.
No matter their methods or attitudes, I understood that they were trying to protect Yu Yeoleum.
Ordinary people trying to protect a supergirl who could fire lasers from her eyes strong enough to pierce steel plates. Incredible.
─And that was exactly the problem.
In Seo Gaeul’s case, there had been no one protecting her.
Seo Gaeul lived alone in that vast penthouse. That was why, even when I took her, no one had been there to stop me.
But Yu Yeoleum’s house had at least two ironclad guards. Breaking in would be easy, but sneaking past their eyes to kidnap her would be a difficult task even for me.
I’ll have to postpone the kidnapping date.
While I was thinking that, we had already arrived at my house. After I got out of the car, Yu Taeyang chewed on a piece of nicotine gum.
“You live here alone?”
“You could say that.”
“So that’s why Yeoleum is interested in you. You already know she’s from an orphanage, right? Looking at this place reminds me of when Dad first introduced her as my little sister.”
Yu Yeoleum had known Yu Taeyang since she was about seven and had been adopted at ten.
A ten-year-old kid. Was she already a superhuman even back then?
“What was she like at the time?”
“She was a bright child. She loved peaches and strawberries. She laughed easily too. Not a single shadow on her. At some point she became blunt… From around the time the orphanage disappeared and she came to our house, she stopped laughing altogether.”
Yu Yeoleum’s personality had changed around the time the orphanage vanished. If I dug a little deeper, this information might prove useful.
“Could you tell me more about that time in detail?”